Treatment head for athermapeutic apparatus



July 10, 1962 A. s. MlLlNowsKl TREATMENT HEAD FOR ATHERMAPEUTIC APPARATUS Filed April 24, 1959 TREATMENT R. F. CHASSIS M. i .y

The present invention relates to an athermapeutic apparatus for the administering of therapeutic treatments to a patient and is more particularly concerned with the treatment head for such apparatus adjacent to which the patient is disposed during the administration of the treatment.

Athermapeutic apparatus for the generation of pulsed high frequency oscillations to which a patient is subjected is now well known to the art wherein the pulse frequency and duration is of such nature that the total time period during which electrical energy is actually induced into the body of a patient is so short that despite the comparatively high instantaneous energy level of the pulsed power it is unaccompanied by heat generation because the time for heat dissipation is many times longer than for heat accumulation.

An improved apparatus of this general type is shown and described in my copending application, Serial No. 773,538, iiled November 4, 1958, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. As therein set forth the pulse duration and frequency is adjustable at the will of the operator for between thirty and one hundred microseconds and for pulse frequencies of from eighty to six hundred pulses per second, so that even at its maximum setting the total peak energy of approximately fourteen hundred watts is of such short duration that the average power is only twenty-five to forty watts. Accordingly, at the maximum pulse rate of six hundred pulses per second the rest period between the pulses is approximately twenty-four times as great as the duration of each pulse, so that any heatthat might be accumulated in the patient during the occurrence of the pulse has many times longer for its dissipation, resulting in an athermapeutie apparatus which produces physiological effects that were previously unattainable.

Athermapeutic apparatus of this type must also operate at a fundamental wavelength within lthe range fixed by government regulations so as to not interfere with radio, television and radar transmission and reception. Since it has been found more desirable to electromagnetically couple the patient to the athermapeutic apparatus, it is essential that the treatment head with which the patient is juxtapositioned be properly tunable to the patient without resulting generation of undesired interfering radiation.

It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to provide an athermapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutical treatment to a patient which produces high frequency oscillations of a controllable pulse frequency and pulse duration without broadcast interference and in which a treatment head is utilized that is readily tunable to the body of each patient.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a treatment head for athermapeutic apparatus which can be positioned adjacent to or against the body of a patient and which is readily tunable by an operator to the body of the patient and wherein no undesirable or interfering radiations are produced that would alect radiation broadcasting.

Still further objects of the present invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an athermapeutic ate Kt apparatus such as that shown and described in my abovenoted pending application and employing a treatment head of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the treatment head of the present invention taken on the line II-II of FIG. 3 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows,

FiG. 3 is a front elevational view of the treatment head ofthe present invention with the front cover plate removed,

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view similar to FIG. 3 but with some of the elements of the treatment head removed therefrom to better illustrate the underneath parts of the head,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional View which a modification of the treatment head may take, and

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the various units of the athermapeutic apparatus as shown in FIG. l.

Referring now to the drawing which illustrates one form that the present invention may take, the athermapeutic apparatus as therein shown comprises a cabinet 5 provided with a control panel 6, for regulating the pulse rate and pulse duration, timer setting, etc., and having a treatment head 7. Such treatment head is carried by an arm 8 to which it is pivotally connected, and with the arm in turn being reciprocally and axially movable on a tubular support 9 and secured in any desired adjusted position relative to the support 9 by a locking screw l0.

Interiorly of the cabinet 5 and disposed on separate shelves are a control panel chassis 12, an RJ?. (radiofrequency) chassis 13 and a power supply chassis 14 with such chassis being interconnectedin the manner as schematically shown in FIG. 6, so that any one of the chassis can be readily removed and replaced to facilitate servicing either locally or an entire chassis substituted for another for later servicing of the removed chassis at the service shop. Each chassis is provided with various essential elements, such as shown by the legends as notedl and as described more in detail in my above-noted copending application, Serial No. 773,538, and the treatment head '7 is connected to its appropriate chassis by a conducting cable or coaxial cable l5.

By reference now more particularly to FIGS. 2 to 5 it will be noted that the treatment head 7 comprises a hollow metallic drum of about nine inches in diameter and approximately seven inches in depth and formed of a light metal, such as aluminum or the like, to thus partially shield the internally disposed tank circuit as herein- `after described against radiation and enhancing the effectiveness of the head in suppressing interference. As seen in FIG. 4, the head 7 is provided with a reinforcing bracket i6 on its interior periphery at the point of pivotal connection with the supporting arm 8 and where the conducting cable 15 is also connected to the treatment drum head 7. The open side of the treatment head 7 is normally closed by a circular plate i7 (FIG. 2) of suitable insulating material, such 'as plastic, hard rubber, or a phenolic condensation product, and has itsv periphery concaved `and secured by screws or the like 18 to a plurality of peripherally spaced lugs 19 projecting from the interior wall of the head 7. v

Immediately beneath the plate 17 is a spider 20 of ring-shape with normally disposed diametric arms 22 and also formed of an insulating material which may be the same as that of the plate 17. As can be seen more particularly from FIG. 2, the arms 22 of the spider 20 are of thicker cross-section than the peripheral ring portion thereof, with such spider being secured within the drum head 7 by the same screws 18 which pass through both the plate 17 and the ring portion of the spider 20 into threaded engagement with the lugs 19. A pair of L-shaped metallic brackets 23 are secured by screws or rivets 24 to the rear surface of the spider 20 and to each of Which a rearwardly extending metal plate 25 (FIG. 4) is secured with these latter plates being held in fixed spaced relation to each other by an insulating spacer 26. i In order to directly couple the tank circuit for producing the oscillations to the patient, so that no intermediate circuit requiring tuning is involved, the resonant circuit for producing the oscillations including the inductive and capacitive elements are housed Within the treatment head 7. As can be `seen more particularly from FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer surfaces of the radial arms 22 ofthe spider 20 are grooved, and just beneath the surface of the plate 17, a very short distance and within these grooves, is a pancake type oscillator coil 27 formed of about three and one-quarter turns of flat copper ribbon about one-half inch wide and one-sixteenth inch thick and spaced approximately one-quarter inch apart, which thus gives a radius varying from about three and one-quarter inches maximum to two and threeeighths inches minimum.

The high frequency electrical energy is brought from the RF. chassis within the cabinet by the conducting cable 1S and fed to a single loop induction coil 28 of about tive inches in diameter and to 4the ends of which the conductors of the cable are connected as shown in FIG. 3. By reference again more particularly to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be noted that this single loop induction coil 28 is disposed a short distance of approximately one-half to three-quarters of an inch from `and parallel to the oscillator coil 27, either in the same plane as seen in FIG. 5 or preferably ina separate parallel plane as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The tank or oscillating circui-t is completed by a variable capacitor connected in series With the oscillator coil 27 and preferably having its plates mounted in perpendicular orientation to the plane of the oscillator coil 27 -to prevent the induction of eddy currents in the plates of the capacitor.

Such capacitor as shown comprises a fixed metallic plate Z9 of approximately four inches square or of similar diameter if circular and carried by an insulating stud projecting upwardly from one of the metallic plates with this iixed plate being connected by a conducotr to one end of the -spiral pancacke oscillator coil 27. The remaining plate 32 yof this capacitor is carried by a threaded shaft 33 which threadedly engages a nut or bushing 34 affixed to the remaining metallic plate 25, and which shaft 33 passes through a spacer and guide tube or the like 35, to the exterior yof the drum head 7 Where such shaft is provided with an adjustment knob 36. A conductor 37 connects the metallic plate 25 and hence fthe capacitor plate 32 to the other end of the oscillator coil 27 to thus complete the oscillating circuit comprising the Series connected oscillator coil 27 and the capacitor 29-32.

The capacitor plates 29--32 are arranged for a nominal spacing of about three-quarters of an inch with an allowable adjustment of approximately one-half to one inch by rotation of the adjustment knob 36 to thus screw the threaded shaft 33 into or out of the nut 34 and move the capacitor plate 32 toward or away from the iixed capacitor plate 29. The purpose of this adjustment of the ycapacitor is to enable the load of the oscillating circuit to be tuned because in a frequency controlled and stafbilized system the patient is always actually a part of the load lof the resonant circuit producing the oscillations, and by virtue of the inductive and capacitive qualities of the load which each individual patient presents to the circuit, they influence to a considerable extent the frequency of the oscillations produced by the coupled circuit. By adjusting the capacitor in the treatment head which is always in juxtaposition to the patient, accurae tuning of the load circuit Which includes each patient to the oscillating circuit is readily and immediately accomplished. Also, in order to have a visual indication that the load circuit including each given patient is properly tuned to the oscillating circuit, the treatment head 7 is provided with an indicator lamp 38 secured to the wall thereof and connected to a single loop inductor coil 39 disposed about one-half to one inch in the rear of the oscillator coil 27 and just within its `outer radius, so that when the load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to the oscillating circuit the neon or similar indicator lamp 38 will be at its greatest light intensity.

It should accordingly be obvious to those skilled in the art that an athermapeutic apparatus has been herein shown and described wherein a treatment head is provided Which can be brought into exceptionally close proximity to any portion of the anatomy of a patient and in which position the patient becomes an integral part of `the load of the oscillating circuit producing the high frequency oscillations. Moreover, the treatment head is so shielded as to enhance its eifectiveness in suppressing interference and equally signilicant is the feature that the load circuit which includes each individual patient can be readily and accurately tuned to the oscillating circuit since the operator has a Visual indicator to apprise him when the load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to such circuit.

Although `one embodiment, together with a slight modiiication `of the present invention, has been herein shown and described, it is to be understood that still further modications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the Iappended claims.

I claim:

1. An athermapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutical treatments to a patient comprising a cabinet, electrical means Within said cabinet and operable to produce periodic pulses of high frequency oscillations of a predetermined wavelength, control means on the face of said cabinet and adjustable by an operator to select desired operating conditions of said electrical means, a drum-shaped treatment head connected to said electrical means and pivotally secured to an arm adjustably aiixed to the exterior of said cabinet and adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with 4any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient, an oscillating circuit including capacitance and inductance elements disposed within s-aid treatment head, and regulating means carried by said treatment head and operable from the exterior thereof to tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of `said treatment head.

2. An atherrnapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutical treatments to a patient comprising a cabinet, electrical means within said cabinet and operable to produce periodic pulses of high frequency oscillations of a predetermined Wave length, control means on the Iface of said cabinet and adjustable by an operator to select desired operating conditions of said electrical means, a hollow drum-shaped treatment head connected to said electrical means and pivotally secured to an arm adjustably aflixed to the exterior of said cabinet and adapted to tbe placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient, an oscillating circuit including capacitance and inductance elements disposed within said treatment head, regulating means carried by said treatment head and operable from the exterior thereof to tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head, and indicating means carried by said treatment head to indicate when the load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to said oscillating circuit.

3. An athermapeutic Iapparatus for administering ther- -apeutical treatments to a patient comprising a cabinet, electrical means Within said cabinet and operable to produce periodic pulses of high frequency oscillations of a predetermined wavelength, control means on the face of said cabinet and adjustable by an operator to' select the rate and `duration of said periodic pulses as Well as to preset the total operating time of said electrical means, a hollow drum-shaped treatment head connected to said electrical means and pivotally secured to an arm adjustably affixed to the exterior of said cabinet and provided with an insulating face plate adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient, an oscillating circuit comprising an inductance coil, an oscillator coil positioned immediately beneath the insulating face plate of saidtreatment head and in a plane parallel to said inductance coil, and la variable capacitance connected in series with said oscillator coil, and said oscillating circuit being disposed in said treatment head; and regulating means carried by said treatment head and operable from the exterior thereof to adjust said variable capacitance and tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head.

4. An -athermapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutical treatments to a patient comprising a cabinet, electrical means within said cabinet and operable to produce periodic pulses of high frequency oscillations of a predetermined wavelength, control means on the face of said cabinet and adjustable by an operator to select the rate and dura-tion of said periodic pulses as well as to preset the total operating time of said electrical means, a hollow drum-shaped metallic treatment head connected to said electrical means and pivotally secured to an arm zadjustably aiiixed to the exterior o-f said cabinet and provided with an insulating face plate adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of -a patient, an oscillating circuit within said treatment head comprising an inductance coil, a flat-spiral oscillator coil positioned immediately beneath and in parallel with the insulating face plate of said treatment head and in a plane parallel to said inductance coil, and a variable capacitance connected in series with said oscillator coil and having its plates disposed perpendicularto the plane of said oscillator coil; regula-ting means carried (by said treatment head and operable from the exterior thereof tol tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head, and indicating means comprising an electric lamp inductively coupled to said oscillating circuit and operable tot give a visual indication when the' load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to said oscillating circuit.

5. A treatment head for athermrapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutic treatments and adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient comprising a hollow housing of light:`

metal having a face plate of insulating material on the patient side thereof, an oscillating circuit including inductance and `capacitance elements within said housing immediately beneath said face plate and connected to said apparatus, and regulating means operable from the exterior of said housing to adjust one of said circuit elements to tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head.

6. A treatment head for athermapeutic :apparatus for administering therapeutic treatments and `adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient comprising a hollow drum-shaped housing of light metal having a face plate of insulating material on the patient side thereof, Aan oscillating circuit including inductance and capacitance elements Within said drum-shaped housing immediately beneath said face and connected to said apparatus, regulating means operable from the exterior of said drum-shaped housing to adjust one of said circuit elements to tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head, land indicating means carried by said drum-shaped housing to indicate when the load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to said oscillating circuit.

7. A treatment head for athermapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutic treatments and adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient comprising a hollow drum-shaped housing oflight metal having a face plate of insulating material on the patient side thereof, an oscillating circuitv disposed within said drum-shaped housing comprising an inductance coil, an oscillator coil positioned immediately beneath the insulating face plate of said drumshaped housing and in a plane parallel to said inductance coil, and a variable capacitance connected in series with said oscillator coil; and regulating means operable from the exterior of said drum-shaped housing to adjust said variable capacitance to tune the load circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head.

8. A treatment head for athermapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutic treatments and adapted to be placed in juxtaposition With any desired portion of the anatomy of a patient comprising a hollow drum-shaped housing of light metal having a face plate of insulating material on the patient side thereof, an oscillating circuit disposed Within said drum-shaped housing comprising an inductance coil, fa flat spiral oscillator coil positioned immediately beneath and in parallel with the insulating face plate of said drum-shaped housing and in a plane parallel to said inductance coil, `and a variable capacitance connected in series with said oscillator coil; regulating means operable from the exterior of said drtunshaped housing to adjust said variable capacitance to tune the load `circuit which includes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head, and indicating means carried by said drum-shaped housing to indicate when the load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to said oscillating circuit.

9. A -treatmenthead for athennapeutic apparatus for administering therapeutic treatments and adapted to be placed in juxtaposition with any desired portion of the anatomy of ya patient comprising a hollow drum-shaped housing of light metal having a face plate of insulating material on the patient side thereof, an oscillating circuit within said drum-shaped housing comprising an inductance coil, an oscillator coil positioned immediately beneath the insulating face plate of said drum-shaped housing and in a plane parallel to said inductance coil, and a Variable capacitaance connected in series with said oscillator coil and having its plates disposed in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said oscillator coil to prevent the introduction of eddy currents; regulating means operable from the exterior of said drum-shaped housing to adjust one of the plates of said variable capacitance relative to the other to tune the load circuit which in-V cludes each individual patient to the oscillating circuit of said treatment head, and indicating means carried by said drum-shaped housing to indicate when Ithe load circuit including the patient is properly tuned to said oscillating circult.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,156,230 Senauke Apr. 25, 1939 2,213,820 Maxson Sept. 3, 1940 2,276,995 Milinowsk Mar. 17, 1942 2,276,996 Milinowski Mar. 17, 1942 2,333,760 Babo et al. l Nov. 9, 1943 

